LETTERS FROM PROFESSOR DAUBENY* 177 



We are on the eve of a great contest, the result of which 

 will determine whether despotism or constitutional gov 

 ernment is to prevail in Europe. Should Russia be able 

 to defy all the powers now arrayed against her, I do not see 

 what is to stop her in her advance to universal empire. I 

 mean, of course, with the Old World. You at least may 

 look on, if not as unconcerned, at least not personally inter 

 ested, spectators in the great struggle. We are also on 

 the eve of great changes in our academical system, which, 

 I trust, will work well, the government having taken upon 

 themselves the task of reforming us, so that you see we are 

 not altogether occupied with foreign politics. 



Murchlson's great- work the Silurian system is the 

 principal geological novelty, unless you regard as geological, 

 Whewell's clever essay, the " Plurality of Worlds." ... . 



FROM PROFESSOR DAUBENY. 



February 15, 1858. 



MY DEAR SIR, I am sorry to say that one of the 

 pamphlets you asked about is out of print, but I have sent 

 two copies of the other, namely " Can Physical Science 

 obtain a Home in an English University," together with a 

 little jeu d esprit of mine, entitled, " A Dream of the New- 

 Museum," intended to point out the inconsistency of a great 

 University, which is as rich as ours is in institutions con 

 nected with classical literature, grudging what is wanted 

 to place the physical sciences upon a respectable footing 

 amongst us. This deficiency will, I hope, be in part sup 

 plied by the new Museum now erecting, and other arrange 

 ments are talked of which will render Oxford less exclu 

 sively devoted to members of the clerical profession and to 

 the aristocracy than heretofore. I have added a little essay 

 of mine on the theory of Cholera, in which, as I have freely 

 owned, I am anticipated by your countryman, Dr. Mitchell 

 of Philadelphia. Dr. Livingstone's statements with respect 

 to the Tzetze fly in his interesting travels, seem to me to 



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